CD

Just to put the dots on the “i”'s from the get-go, let's make tings clear that this review is nót about either of the following still active bands : 1) The Manilla based Philippines Thrash Metal band which to date only delivered a 2003 EP; 2) The now Montreal, Canada based Melodic Black/Death Metal act of Novis Sad, Serbian origins (where they were founded in 2006) which released a 2007 demo, a 2010 EP, 3 split-releases, 2010 and 2012 full-lengths, and their latest, a 2013 single; 3) The California based American Brutal Death Metal outfit formed in 1994, which so far only gave us a 1997 dem

Kaotoxin Records are one of those labels that comes with an enormous variety in releases, though mainly Death Metal and Grindcore-based. One of the genres they are known for is the Grindcore-scene.

Whitechapel is an American deathcore band named after the Whitechapel district in East London, England. Founded in 2006, in Knoxville, Tennessee playing some powerfull Deatcore. Current members are: Phil Bozeman – vocals, Ben Savage – lead guitar, Alex Wade – rhythm guitar, Gabe Crisp – bass, Zach Householder – rhythm guitar and Ben Harclerode – drums.

Although this band has been around for some 25 years, and having so far released six studio albums, I’d never heard of them.  And after listening to this new album, my opinion is still unclear.  Have I missed something by not having heard of them before or not.

Portrait born in Kristianstad, Sweden in 2006 (not 2004!), playing some Heavy Metal. Current members are Per Lengstedt – vocals, Christian Lindell –guitars, David Olofsson – guitars, Mikael Castervall – bass and Anders Persson – drums.

Earlier this year we (the Concreteweb headquarters) did receive the latest full length by German Dark Metal act Eisregen, called Todestage (the album was initially released at the very end of last year, for your information).

Although active for more than a decade, this Dublin-based band remained a heavily tipped act in the Hardcore/ Metal Underground scene...but with their newest, the 5 Irish members certainly have a chance of breaking through in the major league of players!

The Baltic countries are enormously underestimated when it comes to (Black) Metal, but there is a vivid scene out there with lots of excellent bands and projects. There are undeniable and pretty important parallels with the East-European (more specific: the Russian and Polish) and the Scandinavian (more specific: Finnish) scene, but there is something that characterises the sound from many records done in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. That is why I am (almost) always unhappily happy when I have the opportunity to listen to new stuff from out there.

How these guys did it is a mystery to me, but this is already their fourth studio album,  and it seems as if their success will last a bit longer.

When Mötley Crüe released their first album  Too Fast For Love’, it was in a time were in the rock genre you did have the few oddities, but most bands were pretty normal.  OK, you did have a band like Van Halen where David Lee Roth drew a lot of attention, especially from the girls, but what I mean is that sex was not really a topic of the songs, or in a subdued way for that.